Earth Bag House/Coffee Shop
Section 1: The need
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly way way back on 10 December 1948, Article 25 states:-
• “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Estimates on the number of people at risk though inadequate or no housing can vary wildly but using the statistics from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in carried out in 2005 indicates:-
Section 2: A solution using approriate teachnology and local materials.
We wanted to construct at least 1 of the buildings at SHE to follow the principles of village level appropriate technology. We investigated different methods of construction and settled on an earth bag house design.
Earthbag construction is an inexpensive method to create structures which are both strong and can be quickly built. It is a natural building technique that evolved from military bunker construction techniques and temporary flood-control methods. The technique requires very basic construction materials: sturdy sacks, (we used rice sacks that are readily available in Thailand) filled with inorganic material usually available on site so idealy suited for rural areas. Standard earthbag fill material has internal stability. Either moist subsoil that contains enough clay to become cohesive when tamped is used or alternativly gravel or crushed rock can be used.
The founations were excavated to approx 1m deep and the width of a rice bag. We then filled the trenches with loose gravel to 450mm below ground level and compacted it well. Note in high seismic risk regions a reinforced concrete footing or grade beam would be recommended.
We then started to lay bags full of gravel three rows below ground level and 3 rows above this forms a water-resistant foundation Then we used bags full of soil.
Walls are gradually built up by laying the bags in courses — forming a staggered pattern similar to bricklaying.
I will not discuss the exact construction method we adopted here but for those who are interested I will go into more detail elswhere.
Our earthbag house has been in use for 2 years now and we have not seen any problems such as cracking etc to date.
One big plus is the insulation the walls provide makes it the by far the coolest building at the SHE Centre.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly way way back on 10 December 1948, Article 25 states:-
• “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Estimates on the number of people at risk though inadequate or no housing can vary wildly but using the statistics from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in carried out in 2005 indicates:-
- “An estimated 100 million people -one-quarter of the world's population- live without shelter or in unhealthy and unacceptable conditions.”
- “Over 100 million people around the world have no shelter whatsoever”
- “The health consequences of this level of homelessness are profound.”
Housing is a basic human need we can all agree on this but the reality is that we are failing to meet the needs of our neighbours.
Many of the women we meet working in places like Patong are there to provide income for their families housing needs. These needs can be caused by a number of factors and we list below just a few:-
- Poverty,Poor people are not in a position to pay for housing,food,childcare,health care, and education.
- Lack of affordable housing.
- Changes in the industrial economy leading to unemployment.
- Inadequate income from aggricultural sector.
- War or natural disaster can cause unexpected homelessness and loss of family members
along with a loss of income. - The erosion of family and social support.
- Divorce: Anyone in a family whether mother, father or child can become homeless due
to separation. Single parents with dependent children are mostly at risk of
homelessness. - Physical disability or mental illness
- Substance abuse.
- Domestic violence
- Peer pressure/self esteem ie “all my neighbours have concrete houses so why cant I”
By Far the best method for constructing housing is to use the local skills, tools and materials that are available within the community. If we stick to these basic princples then the community has access to all they need to replicate / duplicate and maintain the home.
Section 2: A solution using approriate teachnology and local materials.
We wanted to construct at least 1 of the buildings at SHE to follow the principles of village level appropriate technology. We investigated different methods of construction and settled on an earth bag house design.
Earthbag construction is an inexpensive method to create structures which are both strong and can be quickly built. It is a natural building technique that evolved from military bunker construction techniques and temporary flood-control methods. The technique requires very basic construction materials: sturdy sacks, (we used rice sacks that are readily available in Thailand) filled with inorganic material usually available on site so idealy suited for rural areas. Standard earthbag fill material has internal stability. Either moist subsoil that contains enough clay to become cohesive when tamped is used or alternativly gravel or crushed rock can be used.
The founations were excavated to approx 1m deep and the width of a rice bag. We then filled the trenches with loose gravel to 450mm below ground level and compacted it well. Note in high seismic risk regions a reinforced concrete footing or grade beam would be recommended.
We then started to lay bags full of gravel three rows below ground level and 3 rows above this forms a water-resistant foundation Then we used bags full of soil.
Walls are gradually built up by laying the bags in courses — forming a staggered pattern similar to bricklaying.
I will not discuss the exact construction method we adopted here but for those who are interested I will go into more detail elswhere.
Our earthbag house has been in use for 2 years now and we have not seen any problems such as cracking etc to date.
One big plus is the insulation the walls provide makes it the by far the coolest building at the SHE Centre.